Recycling of the Rodrun LC-5000 LCP/polycarbonate in situ composites

Two recycling routes were used for the investigation of the effect of the recycling on the properties of the Rodrun LC-5000 liquid crystalline polymer and polycarbonate composite. By comparing the virgin LCP/virgin PC binary composite with the recycled LCP/virgin PC binary composite, only a slight decrease in Young's modulus, but a significant decrease in the tensile strength and the tensile strain for the latter one was observed. In contrast to the effect of virgin LCP resin, the addition of multi-stage recycled LCP did not alter the viscosity of the composites of recycled LCP/virgin PC very much regardless of the number of recycling stages of the LCP. There is a significant decrease in Young's modulus of the recycled LCP/PC binary composite. Examination of the fracture surfaces indicates that the morphology of the composites changes with the number of stages of recycling. The fracture surface tends to be smooth and the transition between the skin layer and the core region becomes smaller after recycling with the increase of the recycling cycles.